lamoureux



NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

D. LAMOUREUX, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ALEX. DOUGLAS AND SAML. S. SHERVOOD, OF SAME PLACE.

MANUFACTURING CORSETS AND BUSTLES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 22,532, dated January 4, 1859.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAMASE LAMoUREUx, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a Combined Corset, Bustle, and Skirt-Supporter for Ladies Year, the construction and operation of which I have described in the following specification and illustrated in its accompanying drawings with sufficient clearness to enable competent and skilful workmen in the arts to which it pertains or is most nearly allied to make and use my invention.

My said invention consists in combining in one garment a corset and bustle which may also serve as a skirt supporter, the necessary rotundity and fullness for the bustle being attained by hoops or their equivalent inserted in the lower part of the corset, which extends down, and is enlarged at the bottom to form the bustle, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

My invention is represented in the drawings which accompany this specification, as follows:

Figure l is a rear elevation, showing my corset, bustle and skirt supporter attached to a person, with skirts also attached. In this view the lower', or bustle part is only shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a front view, aartly in perspective, of my invention not attached. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of it, attached.

A represents the person of the wearer.

B is the upper, or corset portion, and C is the lower or bustle portion and skirt Supporter of my device. The upper or corset portion is made very much as corsets are usually made, and is stiffened with strips of whalebone in the ordinary way. It is continued downward in an expanded form and to give the necessary rotundity and prominence behind to constitute. the bustle, whalebone hoops e e are inserted which nearly surround the person, their ends not quite meeting in front. The lines by which these hoops are indicated sufficiently show their length and position. Those strips of whalebone in the corset part which come in front of the ends of the hoops e e, are continued to the lower extremity of the garment to give stability and prominence to the position of the bustle, and to Secure its proper set upon the person. These whalebones and the connection of the bustle with the corset give -a beautiful and proper rotundity to the bustle without supporting the bustle at all upon the hips, and by this arrangement I avoid' the awkward and unseemly wriggle which 1s otherwise given in walking to the back part of the dress, which, by the way, is a very desirable object to attain, as it adds very much to the beauty of the gait of the wearer. This arrangement also gives more freedom to the limbs in walking.

This corset and bustle also furnishes a very useful and desirable skirt supporter, giving them a support which keeps them very securely in position, and avoids to a very great extent, at least their liability to sag and get out of place, as they often do with the usual arrangements at present employed, very much to the discomture of the wearer; and especially is the advantage of my invention as a skirt supporter realized when the corset is supported upon the shoulder, by braces or straps D D, and the skirts attached by hooks upon their waist bands hooking into the holes f f in the combined corset and bustle.

I am aware that various and divers contrivances have been devised for the formation of a satisfactory bustle for ladies wear,

and that these bustles have in some instances been either wholly or in part composed of elastic hoops, one example of which may be seen in the patent granted to Alexander Douglas for improvement in bustles the twenty first day of April 1857. In none of these is the bustle made a part of the corset so as to render it independent of the motion of the hips in walking.

I do not claim making a bustle of hoops either wholly or partially encircling the body of the wearer, and forced back away from the body upon the back side by means other than the combination of the bustle with the corset.

That I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The new article of manufacture constituting a corset and bustle when constructed in the manner described for the purposes set forth.

D. LAMOUREUX.

Witnesses JAS. CI-IAS. GATES, JAS. F. GRIDLEY. 

